The Fertile Ground of Bewilderement

A few weeks before the US presidential elections: “I personally think that Donald Trump is going to get elected. I can’t think of a very plausible scenario for that to happen. My rational brain says that’s not very likely, but I think he’s going to get elected for reasons of dramatic aesthetics. In other words, if you were writing the screenplay of American history that starts with Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin and these truly intellectual giants and remarkable people…..it starts there and what could be more perfect than ending up with Donald Trump? It’s almost a dramatic necessity for it to happen. And when that happens, really, chaos is going to break loose. There’s going to be massive civil unrest, he’ll be completely ineffective, and the system will fall apart. And who knows what’s going to happen? If Hillary’s elected, she’ll be a much more effective administrator of American empire, neoliberal economics; a more effective servant of Wall Street, of drilling and fracking, and so on and so forth. We might muddle on for a few more years before that happens [the system falling apart], but the disintegration of normal could happen anytime because it’s so fragile right now.”

From the Shownotes to the Podcast

The Fertile Ground of Bewilderment was the title of a speech I gave at St. James Church in London. I’m sharing it with you all because it was such a high-energy event and I ventured into territory I haven’t brought into public speaking before. I even went a little into the election here, which portends our own moment of bewilderment as long-established certainties disintegrate. Anyway, there was a kind of magic in the air that evening. The church was packed with people of all ages and races. The light in people’s eyes and the emotion on their faces was definitely not consistent with the stereotype of repressed British people!

Bewilderment. A very bad thing if it is a diversion from what you know to do. But when the honest truth is that you don’t know, then to admit that and to succumb to the unknowing is a necessary stage of the process of letting in a new understanding. I think our civilization is approaching this moment of humility. We are obviously not quite there yet though!

WRITTEN BY

Charles Eisenstein

Charles Eisenstein is a teacher, speaker, and writer focusing on themes of civilization, consciousness, money, and human cultural evolution.His on-line writings have generated a vast following; he speaks frequently at conferences and other events, and gives numerous interviews on radio and podcasts.Eisenstein graduated from Yale University in 1989 with a degree in Mathematics and Philosophy, and spent the next ten years as a Chinese-English translator. He currently lives near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania with his wife and four sons.